Recently I was introduced to a new form of meditation.  I was at a friend’s house and was simply leafing through a book while waiting when I was a chapter that said, “Practice Tenshin meditation”.  So I thought I’d try to grasp it in the short time that I had … it has very greatly affected my life this week, so I thought I would pass it on.

Basically, from the chapter I read, this form of meditation consists of taking on the negativity, or pain, of another person.  When I told my friend about it, who hadn’t read that far in the book yet, he said,

“Why would anyone want to take on somebody else’s problems!?  Our own problems are MORE than enough to deal with.”

I have to say that I agreed with his assessment, but the author spoke so movingly about how this had changed his life that I wanted to try it.  Taking on other’s pain and suffering was not the whole of the process, thankfully!  What was described was to visualize the negativity or pain of others as a thick, black smoke.  Once you have that visualization you breathe the smoke into your lungs, and then when you exhale you send out peace and love into the world.  Sort of the opposite of many breathing meditations I have heard where you breathe in love, and then breathe out your worries, fears, pain, etc.  In this form of meditation you are actually sending negativity into the world … so the thinking was that this form of meditation was more pure as you are taking negativity out of the world and replacing it with love and peace.

Even still, I thought there must be more to this that I’m not getting so I was eager to get started and try it out.  I thought of the people I love, some of whom are certainly in times of hardship or pain, and I visualized it as being that toxic black smoke.  I breathed it in, and it didn’t feel very comfortable.  So I naturally turned to God and asked God to transform this pain into Love and Peace.  I then had the visualization that the black, sooty clouds became rain-clouds that shed water on the soil of my soul.  I saw flowers shoot up from that inner landscape and as I exhaled I was breathing out the fragrance from those blooms … I was sending out what had once been negative and painful, but had now been transformed into Beauty, Love, and Peace.

It was a VERY powerful experience to repeat throughout that meditation.  Since then I have used it more and more.  Yesterday I was in a crowded public space.  I found myself observing the people around me … seeing the lines of worry in their faces, seeing some whose outer aggression was merely a result of their own suffering.  At various points I repeated this meditation for these complete strangers … I breathed in their pain, I allowed it to be transformed within me by God, and then I exhaled God’s Love back to them.

What was even more surprising is that I found that this had a dramatic effect on how I interacted with people throughout the day.  I no longer got even the slightest bit defensive at other’s judgements, or attempts to attain their form of social dominance out of their own insecurity … I simply smiled, received their pain, and gave them Peace and Love in return.

I look forward to seeing what more I can learn from this very powerful practice throughout my day today.

Peace and Love.

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I am currently going back through old posts to re-learn the valuable lessons God has taught me on this amazing journey of Life, and Love.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

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via Breathe In … Breathe Out.